Fall 2009

“Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports…all others are games.” –Ernest Hemingway quote –Ted Wilson conviction In and around Salt Lake City, the question “Who is Ted Wilson?” has several different answers, depending on who you ask. Some know Wilson as the three-time mayor responsible for rebuilding Salt Lake’s water […]

As the last golden rays of sunlight faded behind the ridge, we began our descent. The rappels below awaited us as we hurriedly built an anchor and lowered into the twilight. The day’s adventure had begun with a 6 a.m. wake up call to grab gear and meet at the Little Cottonwood park-n-ride. Destination: The […]

Diversity. That seems to be the main word when we asked about the climbing opportunities in Utah. So many different types of rock, routes to climb and techniques- from the desert to the high alpine, and everything in between. We polled a few guides from different parts of the state and gained some insight into […]

Back in March of this year, the extreme sports world lost one of its brightest stars when Shane McConkeys equipment malfunctioned during a ski BASE jump in Italy. He was to ski off of a cliff, perform a double back flip, and then release his skis by pulling on the release mechanism of the bindings […]

Motorized Coalition, Environmentalists Disagree on Access Issues In early May of this year in southern Utah’s Kane County, over 100 off-road vehicles rallied to drive up the Paria River in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Although the governing body, Bureau of Land Management, had clearly stated that the action was illegal, riders staging the […]

I have been itching to do some real canyoneering for years, everyone at work knows about this odd obsession and my friends regularly take a jab at my ambitions. The closest I have come so far has been walking through slots that I thought of as tourist hikes. You didn’t need ropes, there was no […]

“There are people in the community who think climbing is a frivolous and unimportant activity. We have to counter that with being especially good stewards of the resource.” –Jeff Lowe Jeff is responding to the pesky old question for climbers; access issues? Ogden has long offered superb climbing to its local ascenders but the storied […]

Venturing into the southern regions of Utah during late summer, there is a palpable sense of desolation. But as one approaches the town of Bicknell on State Road 24, a looming swell appears on the horizon- a distant, hazy blue plateau that seems to rise into the stratosphere and dwarfs the surrounding hills. This is […]

Chances are, even if you are not into the climbing scene where the sport has developed, you’ve seen people walking on the slackline around the area. Brought up and developed by the climbing crowd, slackline is gaining in popularity amongst people for refining balance, developing their core muscles, or just to have fun. Unfamiliar? Usually […]

Let’s be honest, slot canyons can be intimidating. In fact, they can be downright scary. The prospect of rappelling into a claustrophobic slot with no sure way out, that’s enough to make anyone nervous. Or how about swimming through a cold, muddy pool of water when you can’t see below the surface? Perhaps the most […]

Aid climbing: pulling oneself up via devices attached to fixed or placed protection to make upward progress, generally reserved for pitches where free climbing is difficult to impossible–Ed. When most people think of climbing in Zion National Park, their minds drift to thoughts of soft, crumbly rock or being scared to death on steep, exposed […]